Gamma shift in DVD Studio Pro menu

[KennyReff]

THE PROBLEM: There is a gamma shift in the DVD Studio Pro menu image such that it is washed out.

The menu looks fine in the menu composition window in DVD SP and it’s fine in the DVD SP simulator. The problem is in the burned DVD, and it’s apparent whether viewed with the built in DVD Player, or on a set-top external DVD player.

The only thing that is affected is the menu. The footage, which was compressed in Compressor, is fine. I design in Photoshop. The colorspace is RGB 8-bit. I have all color management profiles turned off, but I usually use sRGB. I then export as either uncompressed PICT, PNG or TIFF.

I've been using this workflow for many years with no problem, but only recently did this start happening. The version of DVD SP (4.2.1) hasn't changed. The OS went to Snow Leopard in Oct 2011, but I think it was OK after that. Other changes would only have been regular Apple updates, so it's a mystery.

This discussion held promise. Everything JeremyG says is what's happening with me. But at the bottom of this long thread, still no answer:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1559230?start=0&tstart=0

I know I am not alone in this, but I've spent hours looking through the discussions to find if a solution was finally found to this, and cannot. I hope someone can help, or if the gods prevail, maybe Apple will.

My specs:
OS: 10.6.4
DVD SP 4.2.1
Menu: PNG or PICT from PS CS4

If someone knows the solution to this, please help! Thanks.
~Kenny

 

[NoahK]

Stills are tricky for menus because you're going RGB color on a computer screen to CCIR 601 standard definition video. It's essential for one thing to check any stills in a color correction tool and make sure your levels are broadcast safe and all that. That said, you'll likely still see some clamping even if the levels appear to be perfect. For that reason I highly recommend using motion menus instead of PNG/PICT as sources. Because those are coming from compressed still and going to DVD format= recipe for gamma shifts/clamping/etc. Even if it's a menu with no motion, you can still create it as a video clip where nothing moves and it will look much better. Look at 99% of Hollywood DVDs today and you'll see that's how they're made.

-Noah